Tesco threatened with Christmas strike action after Unite denounces frozen pay for delivery staff in Belfast and Doncaster as "pitiful"

Clara Guibourg is an Online Writer at City A.M. She can be contacted at clara.guibourg@cityam.com. She is particularly passionate about women in business, technology and telecoms.

Follow Clara

Clara Guibourg

Unite called Tesco's zero per cent pay rise "pitiful" (Source: Getty)

Tesco faces a new headache as over 700 of its drivers and delivery staff are threatening to strike right over the busy Christmas period.

Belfast and Doncaster staff are gearing up to vote on strike action over a pay dispute, as the supermarket giant has frozen pay for its delivery staff in both regions.

Unite national officer Adrian Jones urged the supermarket to revise its “pitiful” pay offer of zero per cent this year and 1.5 per cent the next.

We don’t want favours from the company but we believe that the current offer is far below what it can afford and what our members deserve.

Unite members don’t want to disrupt anyone’s Christmas shopping but without a proper pay increase thousands of workers will not be able to enjoy their own Christmas in the way they deserve.

The union’s members now have until 11 December to vote on potential industrial action, which Unite claims would hit hard against deliveries to Tesco stores in Yorkshire and Northern Ireland in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Tesco struck back at this, denying that a strike would have any “noticeable effect” for Tesco customers. A spokesperson for the company said that further negotiations would be held with Unite representatives this Wednesday:

The approach from Unite is clearly counterproductive, as we have always been committed to pay discussions, and is surprising given Unite had initially agreed to new talks.